Rig a Downriggerand Get Down Deeper

Some deep-diving plugs will get down to around 30ft (10m), but it
will take a downrigger set-up to get your lure down to greater depths.

This is the crane-like device often seen on the sterns of sports-fishing
boats. Its purpose is to deploy an independent line, taken to depth by a
heavy lead weight.

Your trolling line is attached to the weight by a
quick-release clip, which releases when a fish strike your lure.

The benefit of course is that you can get your trolling lure down to a
much greater depth than you could otherwise achieve, without the
encumberence of any weight on the line.

Three main components go to make up a down rigger oufit:~

The down rigger itself, which usually incorporates at least one rocket-launcher type rod holder;

A wire line;

A down rigger weight, or alternatively a Planer, to which your trolling line is attached by a quick-release clip.

The Downrigger

This can be the complicated bit - everything else is fairly straightforward. The simplest down riggers are manually operated.

It incorporates a cranking handle, a pulley wheel and a line-counter
which ensures that having found the depth at which the fish are feeding,
you can get your lure back down to exactly the same level. A fixed
length boom and a single rodholder completes the outfit

An ideal piece of kit for small fishing boats whose skippers realise the benefits of fishing a lure down deep.

Sailboat skippers may baulk at all this machinery on the stern, just
waiting to mix it with all the running rigging. But there are a couple
of ways of getting an independently weighted line down without having
your stern look like a construction site - click here to see how it's done.

But if you've got a sports-fishing boat with power to spare, then an electrical version is likely to be attractive.